Tampa Ranked Among Best 'Staycations'

Tampa was ranked among the best places to staycation by wallethub.com.

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Three central Florida cities have been ranked among the best places in the country to staycation.

Tampa ranked eighth overall and Orlando was ninth in WalletHub.com's 2014 list of the 100 Best and Worst Cities to Staycation. Other Florida cities included on the list are St. Petersburg (No. 11), Miami (No. 63), Jacksonville (No. 75) and Hialeah (No. 85).

WalletHub considered 20 factors in determining its list, ranging from public golf courses and swimming pools per capita, to the cost of maid services.

Orlando ranked first for food and entertainment and was third for relaxation. St. Petersburg ranked fifth for recreation and seventh for relaxation.

According to WalletHub, vacationers are expected to spend $1,246 per person this summer, up 9 percent from 2013 due to rising hotel and airfare costs.

Tonight at 6:30 p.m. on Florida Matters on WUSF 89.7, we take several trips to some of the places that makes our area unique, including the Tampa Theatre and the Dali Museum in St. Petersburg.

Listen to this story as WUSF's Susan GIles Wantuck takes a trip inside the Tampa Theatre.

Tampa's downtown movie palace, The Tampa Theatre, has stood through boom times and depressions. The jewel still stands along Franklin Street. It has been there since 1926 and was the first commercial building in Tampa with air conditioning.

Back then the movies were a novelty and people would line up, pay 10 cents to get in and then stand in an even longer line to await the departure of another patron.

Then they'd go inside to watch the movie, and stay until they reached the point at which the story began for them and leave. Apparently, this is where the term, "this is where I came in" comes from.